Alain Ducasse at the Dorchester - London

Alain Ducasse is a giant. He is not Britain centric. His domain is France and Monaco with outposts in Hong Kong, Japan and the USA. He presently holds 21 Michelin Stars. When I was at the Le Cordon Bleu one of my instructing chefs Franck Jeandon had worked for Alain Ducasse in New York. I asked Chef Franck what made Alain Ducasse so great. The answer was, and I quote `Ducasse will look at a carrot and think, how much money can I make with this.’ This was not to suggest that Ducasse was a mercenary, but the answer was far deeper, it showed how intense the skill of this man was, that he could cook a humble vegetable in such a fantastic manner that a cynical punter would pay money to eat it. Ducassse style of cooking is still classical, he has no foams, jellies and chemicals, just good old recognisable food skilfully crafted, and beautifully cooked. Neither me nor the Queen are fans of the Heston Blumenthal type of molecular gastronomy cooking. Real food any day for us.

There are only four restaurants that have 3 Michelin stars in the UK. Alain Roux’s wonderful Waterside Inn at Bray, Blumenthal’s fantasy food Fat Duck also at Bray, Gordon Ramsay's delightful Royal Hospital Road and Alain Ducasse at the Dorchester.

We had a rather early 6.45pm table, but we were willing to have an early diner for the pleasure of eating at the restaurant. The day was very rainy but luckily it cleared up so we did not have to carry our umbrellas to the restaurant. The restaurant is part of the Dorchester Hotel, which is, in my opinion, not the greatest location to have such a high end restaurant. The character of the Hotel with its processes, staffing and image are often at odds with or compromise the independence and freedom of an individual restaurant. But, I stress, this is my opinion, I may be wrong.

The Restaurant itself is pleasantly appointed and ticks all the boxes necessary, sliver cutlery – check, multiple menus – check, a tasting menu – check, a footstool for the ladies to keep their purses – check, French staff – check, extensive wine list – check, high staff ratio – check. The boxes not ticked, menus without prices for the hosts – missing, coats whisked away on your entry and miraculously reappearing on your exit – missing. The restaurant is located in the middle of a long passage that serves as a lobby that is the sort of spine of the Hotel. It was a bit disconcerting to walk thru the very busy, albeit very glamorous lobby to get to the restaurant. Our coats were taken and we were soon seated and handed 3 menus. One contained the A La Carte and Tasting Menu, the other was a special Autumn Menu and the third was the Wine list. The menus were explained to us and after that one of the senior captains came across with a wooden box looking like a Humidor which had inside a few White Truffles. On opening the box you got the intoxicating aroma of Truffles. We decided on the A La Carte. Since it is Truffle season as I have been writing, the Restaurant had a special; you could order 3 grams of the White Truffle to be shaved on your food. Mind you this was not like Tabasco where you could add a few drops on anything and everything, only a few of the A La Carte dishes could take the Truffle. We chose our food and wine and enjoyed the glass of Champagne while the food arrived. With our Champagne we got a mound of some utterly delicious Gruyere Gougeres.        

Before the first course we got an Amuse Bouche. Reasonably simple. Finely cur Granny Smith Apple [correct word was Brunoise of Granny Smith] with a Quenelle of Cream, Toasted Pine Nuts and a Parsnip Veloute. A good combination. Just got the gastric juices flowing.

For our first course HRH the Queen of Kutch ordered “Sauté Gourmand” of Lobster which was served with Truffled Chicken Quenelles and homemade Pasta. This was pronounced as being really good. You got medallions of Lobster tail sautéed, some tubes of Pasta and delicious chicken Mousse in a Quenelle. This was topped with a Nantua Sauce which is made using white sauce flavoured with roasted lobster shells. Just looking at the dish makes you want to eat it.

I ordered an Alain Ducasse creation, a dish invented by him the Cookpot of British Terroir vegetables Girolles and Montgomery Cheddar. Since we were in Britain the Cookpot consisted of British vegetable. In his other locations, vegetables and a cheese of that location are used to make the Cookpot. This dish was a stunner. It was totally vegetarian. At the bottom were some Girolle mushrooms as well as some simple Mushroom Duxelle [Mushrooms chopped, Shallot, Parsley all cooked together] Also in the Cookpot were roasted Butternut Squash and Roasted Apple and an assortment of leafy vegetables topped with some Cheddar. The whole pot is sealed with Puff Pastry and cooked. The dish was totally delicious, healthy and every morsel perfectly seasoned and cooked.

Four our mains we had both requested that White Truffle be added. HRH the Queen of Kutch ordered Hand-dived Sea Scallops, Parsnips, Jerusalem Artichokes and Fried Salsify. The dish also had some Parsnip cooked in Balsamic Vinegar. The Scallops were huge. I had not seen such large Scallops ever! They were perfectly cooked, seared on the outside and just underdone in the centre. The sweetness of the Scallops was quite something. The crunch of the Salsify Chips gave an interesting contrast. The Truffle shaved on top made the dish extra special. A great dish once again.

I ordered Veal Loin, Girolles and Culatello with fresh Almonds and a Veal Jus. Girolles are once again on the plate simply because its Autumn, mushrooms are everywhere and every restaurant wants to serve them. Culatello is the best part of a Parma Ham. Once the Captain shaved the Truffle on top the heat from the meat and vegetables hit the Truffle causing a release of even more aroma. The dish was incredible. The extreme savouriness of the sauce was accentuated by the Truffles. The vegetables accompanying the Veal were also expertly cooked. Look at the vivid colour of the carrot and the lettuce. This was skilful and caring cooking.

Then it was time for dessert. Rum Baba is another of Alain Ducasse signature dishes. A Rum Baba is very rich yeast cake. It’s richer than a Brioche. The cake is normally a 2-3 inch cylinder and is served with whipped cream. The cake itself is doused in Rum. To make it special, a tray with 5 different rums is brought out by the Sommelier. The rums range from a very fresh smelling white to richer, spicier and denser dark rums. I chose mellow dark Rum from Cuba. The Rum Baba arrived, was cut open whipped cream spooned on and the rum poured. I had a spoonful and nearly fainted with pleasure. It was gorgeous, luscious, spongy and rich all at the same time.

HRH the Queen of Kutch ordered a Praline-Chocolate biscuit with Vanilla ice cream. The biscuit was outstanding. It had what I thought was Cassonade sugar which is a sort of crystallised brown sugar used in French baking. It’s extremely brittle and shatters in the mouth.  Really very good. The Vanilla ice cream was ordinary in comparison.

As if all this sugar was not enough we got some Petit Fours. This consisted of two types of Chocolate, milk and bitter and 6 Macaroons. The chocolates were good but the Macaroons were much better that what we have eaten from Laudree and Pierre Herme. I believe the reason for that is the fact that these Macaroons are probably fresher and the moisture has not affected them as much.

Thus ended a fabulous meal. The food was top notch. The service was below the standards of the food. It was erratic. There were so many occasions when the bus boys brought out hot food from the kitchen only to find no empty table to set down the tray or to find that there were no waiters to serve the food. Empty plates sat on the diner’s tables for quite an inordinate time before being cleared. The service had no particular discernible system and certainly no charm. Being one of just four 3 star Michelin restaurants in the UK did this experience feel at all special and extraordinary? Unfortunately not, while the food was really good the rest of the elements did not add up. When leaving, the hostess took us along the long length of the lobby across to the other side to retrieve our coats. Why could the coat cupboard not be closer to the restaurant? Was this a constraint of the hotel in which the restaurant was located? Did the blandness and extreme obsequiousness that Hotels have overwhelm the character of this Restaurant? I think yes. But I will never know the correct answer, as it is very unlikely that we are going back.

Empress of Sichuan - London

I had written about our meal at Empress of Sichuan some time ago. Its not often that I write about the same restaurant twice but this one merited it. We did have a very good meal there, so we thought; why not give it another shot. You often have a problem when you re-visit a restaurant where you had a particularly good or pleasant meal. The second visit ends up somehow disappointing. Either the food is just not right; you order something that is not good, the waiters are different and do not respond to your excitement, so many factors. This has happened to us too on more occasions than we care to remember.. Anyway, we decided to give Empress of Sichuan another shot.

A pleasant walk in the refreshing London cold got us to a nearby pub where we had a couple of drinks. Then it was time to walk across for dinner. The restaurant was 80% full, and full of Orientals happily dipping their chopsticks into large bowls of soup on a heater. Yes, they were enjoying the interactive thrill of a Mongolian Hot Pot. It’s quite a good thing to have on a winter day especially with a few friends who eat the same things as you. It gets more enjoyable if you have some intoxicants with the meal. The hot pot costs some GBP 24.50 per person and is unlimited. You get all types of seafood, meat, vegetables and tofu. You are warned that you can eat for only 2 hours. After that all food is charged for!!!

On looking at the menu we were confused. So many dishes leapt out waiting to be ordered. There were just two of us!! For starters we got a cold starter of Sliced Pig Ear with Chilli Oil. What a knockout dish. The strong Ma La sensation of the Sichuan Peppercorns with the Chilli Oil and the Fried Sichuan Chillies went so well with the cold crunchy Pigs Ears and the slivered Cucumber. This was a truly delicious beginning to our meal. After the starter our lips were really tingling. Wow!

One of the restaurants specialities is the most unimaginatively named Steamed Beef with Rice Paste in Bamboo Tube. Despite the clinical name we ordered this. This was the second knockout punch. Beef short ribs, some of the most melting cuts of beef, were slow cooked and the added to the heavily spiced ground rice. This was a dish that in my view was comfort food. It was warm, it was soft, the meat was tender, fall of the bone melting, there was spice it was porridge like consistency – in other words comfort food. Absolutely brilliant dish.  This dish though spicy with chilli did not have any Sichuan Peppercorns, so the spice was different.

In addition we ordered something we have had quite often at the China House at the Hyatt at Kalina in Mumbai. Here it was called Double Cooked Pork Belly Slices with Chilli & Onion. At the China House it’s called Wok Cooked Pork. What the dish it is, Pork Belly which is cooked whole, then thinly sliced like bacon and then it’s given the second cooking. To accompany this we had a single bowl of Egg Fried Rice. The contrast between the dish at the Hyatt and the dish here was dramatic. This was a robust dish, with the funky and salty bursts from Black Beans and the heat of Green and Red Chilli all cooked in a healthy amount of chilli oil. The dish at the China House seemed correct but simply `kanjoos’ or stingy or un-generous when compared to this one. Think loving indulgent grandparents versus a wicked step mother, both are related to you but one is mean, the other large hearted. I do not know if my simile is apt but I am sure you get my drift. I have attached the photo of the dish at China House. You can make your own decision.

The dish at China House

For desert we had bought a few Macarons from Laudree. Took the edge of the spice.

It was a monumental meal. Superb on all counts. A bit heavy on the chilli front but I am not complaining. The whole meal has cost less than a single main course at Alain Ducasse where we are headed the next night. But such is life. 

Hedonism Wines - Mayfair London

Very rich, megalomaniacal, powerful and egotistical people often do a lot of good. Take the example of Shah Jehan who constructed the Taj Mahal. Take the example of someone like Donald Trump who has made the luxurious Trump Towers and other buildings in the USA. Take the example of the Sheiks in Dubai who have constructed the magnificent building in Dubai that I have waxed lyrical about in previous posts.

Now from megalomaniacs on to alcohol. Or more specifically - alcohol retail. Alcohol retail is big business all over the world. Alcohol retail has many dimensions, in as much as you have shops in India selling predominantly spirits and beer, shops in France sell predominantly wine often just the local wine and in the UK you also have shops selling predominantly wine. Supermarkets predominantly sell beers, ciders and spirits. So, to put it differently, it is not often you get a store with everything.

Up comes Evgeny Chichvarkin a Russian oligarch who made money in Russia in retailing mobile phones. He was falsely accused of kidnapping and extortion but the charges were dropped. He moved to London and was marking time thinking of what to do. Whenever he ordered wine, he received strange answers, basically the shops treated a customer with the least respect. One day was looking for a particular wine and his local retailer did not have it. He called all the big stores, Harrods, Berry Brothers, Fortnum & Masons, all of whom said they did not stock that particular wine. This situation he thought was unacceptable, and he set about correcting it.

First he poached the chief wine buyer from Harrods and set about buying wine. They spent 18 months buying wine from all kinds of suppliers. They then identified a space in Mayfair - a huge 2 floor retail unit and filled it with the wine. They have some 3500 types of wine and some 1000 types of other alcohol. In addition they have all the paraphernalia used in wine drinking, decanters, glasses and what have you. Next up they staffed the store with 12 multilingual staff, many of whom were Sommeliers at restaurants to help customers buy the wine.

We walked in one afternoon and were astounded. The wine collection was, to us, completely incomprehensible. This was because we simply have no knowledge of wine. But looking at the spirits also available, I was truly staggered. Every type of Vodka, every whiskey – American, Canadian, Irish, Japanese, Scottish and Indian, yes, Amrut Fusion and Amrut Peated Malt were both available – brandy, Grappas, Tequilas, Liquers, Bitters, some 40 varieties of Gin. You name it, they seemed to have it.

We bought a bottle of wine to have with our dinner. It cost very little, but the service given to us was unmatched by any shop we have been to in the past. Wines there cost upto GBP 130,000, ours cost a very small fraction of that. The shop will deliver any wine to any location in Central London or to a hotel or even a private jet. Now is that not service?

I was very pleased with the shop. I will certainly be back to buy more wine. Such friendly staff, why not go back? None of that snooty French attitude or contempt for a people with limited wine knowledge. Just smiling, helpful, knowledgeable service.

Well done